Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

In the 15 years since the release of Gender Outlaw, Kate Bornsteins groundbreaking challenge to gender ideology, transgender narratives have made their way from the margins to the mainstream and back again. Today's transgenders and other sex/gender radicals are writing a drastically new world into being. In Gender Outlaws, Bornstein, together with writer, raconteur, and theater artist S. Bear Bergman, collects and contextualizes the work of this generation's trans and genderqueer forward thinkers — new voices from the stage, on the streets, in the workplace, in the bedroom, and on the pages and websites of the world's most respected mainstream news sources. Gender Outlaws includes essays, commentary, comic art, and conversations from a diverse group of trans-spectrum people who live and believe in barrier-breaking lives.

Review:

"Fifteen years after Bornstein's groundbreaking Gender Outlaw, this follow-up collection presents the wide-ranging voices of a new generation of gender radicals. In thought-provoking essays, poems, and comics, contributors address the problematic nature of language and labels, which often force people into two categories; 'People get upset with transgender people who choose to inhabit a third gender space rather than "pick a side."' A lack of acknowledgment of alternate gender labels in public spaces such as restrooms, and on official documentation highlights this issue on a daily basis. Lypsinka, Ryka Aoki, Katie Diamond and Johnny Blazes and other contributors reveal how far we've come in defining ourselves, and some, like Janet Hardy, resist definition entirely: 'I am perfectly comfortable... not choosing a fixed identity location.' Self-assuredness and self-acceptance exude from these deeply personal writings ('Let's stop trying to deconstruct gender into nonexistence, and instead start celebrating it as inexplicable, varied, profound, and intricate'). Non-Western perspectives, including a description of a ritual for Maasai women who can't reproduce, broaden the concept of 'gender outlaw' and further challenge accepted notions of what is normal. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved." Publishers Weekly (Copyright PWyxz LLC)

Synopsis:

Part coming-of-age story, part mind-altering manifesto on gender and sexuality, coming directly to you from the life experiences of a transsexual woman, Gender Outlaw breaks all the rules and leaves the reader forever changed.26 black-and-white illustrations.

About the Author

Kate Bornstein is an author, playwright and performance artist. Kate's plays and performance pieces include Strangers in Paradox, Hidden: A Gender, The Opposite Sex Is Neither, Virtually Yours, and y2kate: gender virus 2000. Kate's books are taught in over 120 colleges and universities around the world, and ze has performed hir work live on college campuses as well as in theaters and performance spaces across the USA, in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Austria. Kate lives in New York, NY.

S. Bear Bergman is a writer, a theater artist, an instigator, a gender-jammer, and a good example of what happens when you overeducate a contrarian. Ze is the creator of three award-winning solo performances, as well as a frequent contributor to anthologies on all manner of topics. Bear lives in Ontario, Canada.

"Publishers Weekly Review"
by Publishers Weekly,
"Fifteen years after Bornstein's groundbreaking Gender Outlaw, this follow-up collection presents the wide-ranging voices of a new generation of gender radicals. In thought-provoking essays, poems, and comics, contributors address the problematic nature of language and labels, which often force people into two categories; 'People get upset with transgender people who choose to inhabit a third gender space rather than "pick a side."' A lack of acknowledgment of alternate gender labels in public spaces such as restrooms, and on official documentation highlights this issue on a daily basis. Lypsinka, Ryka Aoki, Katie Diamond and Johnny Blazes and other contributors reveal how far we've come in defining ourselves, and some, like Janet Hardy, resist definition entirely: 'I am perfectly comfortable... not choosing a fixed identity location.' Self-assuredness and self-acceptance exude from these deeply personal writings ('Let's stop trying to deconstruct gender into nonexistence, and instead start celebrating it as inexplicable, varied, profound, and intricate'). Non-Western perspectives, including a description of a ritual for Maasai women who can't reproduce, broaden the concept of 'gender outlaw' and further challenge accepted notions of what is normal. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved." Publishers Weekly (Copyright PWyxz LLC)

"Synopsis"
by Ingram,
Part coming-of-age story, part mind-altering manifesto on gender and sexuality, coming directly to you from the life experiences of a transsexual woman, Gender Outlaw breaks all the rules and leaves the reader forever changed.26 black-and-white illustrations.

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